Game developer David Braben creates a USB stick PC for $25 article tells about an interesting project from Raspberry Pi Foundation. The idea is to a manufacture a very low cost PC that can be given to kids for free and courses built up around their use.
Braben has developed a tiny USB stick PC that has a HDMI port in one end and a USB port on the other. You plug it into a HDMI socket and then connect a keyboard via the USB port giving you a fully functioning machine (700MHz ARM11 with 128MB of RAM) running Ubuntu version of Linux. This tiny computer is promised to handle web browsing, run office applications, and give the user a fully functional computer to play with as soon as it’s plugged in. You can attach a 12MPixel camera module to it as shown on the following picture from Raspberry Pi Foundation web page.
Sounds interesting cheap Linux platform. Let’s hope this becomes available soon and at promised price. I can think many uses for this kind of cheap, small and low power consumption Linux platform.
57 Comments
Tomi says:
Also mentioned at
http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/raspberry-pi-tiny-computer-runs-linux
Arduino Goes ARM « Tomi Engdahl’s ePanorama blog says:
[...] mobile phone and tablet markets. The latest version of Windows 8 will also run on ARM processors, Raspberry Pi is a $25 ARM based machine [...]
tomi says:
A slice of Pi: $25 computer on show
http://www.edn.com/article/519700-A_slice_of_Pi_25_computer_on_show.php
A computer board that contains everything you might need, and is to be priced around $25, will come under the spotlight at this week’s ARM TechCon event. http://e.ubmelectronics.com/armtechcon/index.html
Based on an 700-MHz ARM11, the board has 128MB or 256MB of SDRAM, OpenGL ES 2.0, 1080p30 H.264 high-profile decode and composite and HDMI video output.
It has USB 2.0, a SD/MMC/SDIO memory card slot and an optional integrated 2-port USB hub and 10/100 Ethernet controller.
Tomi Engdahl says:
http://linux.slashdot.org/story/11/10/30/006256/25-pc-prototype-gets-award-at-arm-techcon
The Raspberry Pi project, which aims to create a $25 Linux box, won an award for the category ‘Best in Show for Hardware Design’ at ARM TechCon, even though they haven’t yet released any final product (the release will be sometime in late November).
http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4230191/ARM-TechCon-celebrates-design-with-awards
Tomi Engdahl says:
Raspberry Pi planning incremental launch of $25 PC in December
http://www.geek.com/articles/chips/raspberry-pi-planning-incremental-launch-of-25-pc-in-december-2011112/
Eben confirmed that an order has been placed for 10,000 units, but they won’t arrive until the end of November. That means we will see Raspberry Pi go up for sale in December, but it won’t be a typical “get as many out the door as you can” launch.
With that in mind, we won’t be seeing the consumer version of the $25 PC until sometime in 2012.
http://www.raspberrypi.org/
In short, those first units will emphatically not be sold to programmers only. If you want one, and you click on the buy button in time, you can have one; they’re being sold on a first-come, first-served basis, whoever you are, and whether or not you are a programmer.
Video from Seneca College on Fedora, Raspberry Pi, open software and education
http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/298
Tomi Engdahl says:
Final Raspberry Pi printed circuit board (PCB) layout was revealed.
http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/344
The Raspberry Pi is exactly the size of a credit card – 85.60mm x 53.98mm.
Tomi Engdahl says:
I just was Raspberry Pi mentioned in Wall Street Journal web site on video report:
The $25 Computer That Plays High-Definition Video 11/22/2011 8:30:47 AM
The Raspberry Pi, a credit-card sized computer that plugs into your TV and a keyboard will be available next year. It’s a PC that does many of the things your desktop PC does and is aimed at the educational sector.
http://online.wsj.com/video/the-25-computer-that-plays-high-definition-video/7E9D6C97-80D5-4175-9D23-454018240138.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_mpvidcar_1
Tomi says:
QT 5 Will Be Available For Raspberry Pi
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/11/26/0732238/qt-5-will-be-available-for-raspberry-pi
“A small group of ICS and Nokia engineers have started working on a minimal bootstrap to bring fully functional Qt 5″ to the Raspberry Pi
Nokia is funding 400 of the boards and looking for ideas (and developers) to use them.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Raspberry Pi, a Tiny But Powerful $25 PC, Coming Soon [VIDEO]
http://mashable.com/2011/12/28/raspberry-pi-coming-january/
The holidays have been particularly jolly for the gang making Raspberry Pi, the tiny Linux-based PC that’s going to cost just $25. If the reports coming from the site are to be believed, you could be able to buy one as early as next month.
he site says all the initial testing showed the boards to be performing “as solid as a rock,” despite an issue with the power supply.
However, that problem was easily fixed via a red wire and a quick soldering job,
Tomi Engdahl says:
Raspberry Pi boards hit Ebay
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2134959/raspberry-pi-boards-hit-ebay
A LIMITED NUMBER of Raspberry Pi beta boards have appeared on Ebay and are gathering some big money attention.
The boards are the basis for the £15 Raspberry Pi computer on a USB stick, and 10 have been made available at the online auction web site Ebay by their developers.
Board number 10 of 10 has the most bidders and lately has seen a bid of £2,050, according to the Ebay listing.
Tomi Engdahl says:
5 things to know: Raspberry Pi
Tiny, affordable PC with charitable focus available soon
http://www2.electronicproducts.com/5_things_to_know_Raspberry_Pi-article-fajb_raspberry_pi_dec2011-html.aspx
1. It probably isn’t for you.
2. There are two models
3. Some additional specifics
4. A few how to’s:
5. Ordering
For the electronics hobbyists out there, the Raspberry Pi has potential uses in DIY robotics, vehicle entertainment systems, and other computing projects.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why the Raspberry Pi Won’t Ship In Kit Form
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/12/01/31/203229/why-the-raspberry-pi-wont-ship-in-kit-form
Clearly, the chips are so small, and the solder blobs required so tiny, that most people would mess up doing it by hand. Add to that the fact one chip has to sit on top of the other, and if you’re a millimeter out, your chips are fried.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Raspberry Pi will tip up this month
Low cost USB PC is almost here
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2144453/raspberry-pi-tip
THE BARGAIN PC IN YOUR POCKET, the Raspberry Pi has had its release slightly delayed, but not by much.
Units of the sub-£20 USB-style PC have been slightly delayed due to a problem with sourcing a component, according to the Raspberry Foundation, but should leave factories on around 20 February.
“We’ve been leaning (gently and charmingly) on Broadcom, who make BCM2835, the SoC at the heart of the Raspberry Pi, to produce an abbreviated datasheet describing the ARM peripherals in the chip, (PDF),”
http://dmkenr5gtnd8f.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/BCM2835-ARM-Peripherals.pdf
Tomi Engdahl says:
Video: about the upcoming Fedora Remix for Raspberry Pi
http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/676
Thanks to Chris Tyler and the team at Seneca College for all their work on getting Fedora onto the Raspberry Pi. This will be the distribution we’ll be recommending to users; we expect it to be ready for download on Wednesday. Here, Chris and friends talk about what they’ve been working on.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Raspberry Pi’s Gertboard expansion board already works (video)
http://www.geek.com/articles/chips/raspberry-pis-gertboard-expansion-board-already-works-video-2012019/
In the middle of December last year the Raspberry Pi Foundation made a surprising announcement that not only would we see the $25 PC released in 2012, it would also be getting an expansion board–possibly joining it at launch.
The Gertboard add-on should make it easy to tap into the Pi’s affordable power for DIY projects.
Raspberry Pi announces the Gertboard expansion board
http://www.geek.com/articles/chips/raspberry-pi-announces-the-gertboard-expansion-board-20111215/
The board has been developed by Gert van Loo, another Broadcom employee just like Eben Upton.
Gertboard will add the option to play with flashing LEDs, hook your Raspberry Pi up to motors, and mess around with a range of sensors. A Raspberry Pi-powered robot, anyone?
With the announcement of the Gertboard, the Raspberry Pi changes from being just a cheap PC to a platform for experimentation. And its only the first of many expansion boards, apparently. The foundation has also hinted that a camera will be looked into at some point in 2012.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Raspberry Pi signs big-name sellers
http://www.reghardware.com/2012/02/29/raspberry_pi_signs_big_name_sellers/
Educationally inclined microcomputer maker Raspberry Pi today revealed that its ARM-based credit card-sized machine is to be taken to coders worldwide by two big-name suppliers.
RS Components
Premier Farnell’s Element 14
Both Element 14 and RS Components will begin taking orders for the Raspberry Pi today
Tomi Engdahl says:
Rasberry Pi at Farnell
http://downloads.element14.com/raspberryPi1.html?isRedirect=true
Tomi Engdahl says:
Quick-and-Dirty Embedded MCU Functions?
http://www.element14.com/community/message/45106#45106/l/quick-and-dirty-embedded-mcu-functions
The RPi really excites me as it seems to blend a full Linux environment with the GPIO I’m used to on microcontrollers.
I noticed that in the Gertboard video that it appears the GPIO port can be accessed via /sys:
I think being able to access pins from the filesystem abstraction is really powerful. That means that any language that can run on Linux can interact with the physical world – heck I can even blink LEDs and flip on motors from the shell.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Raspberry Pi credit-card sized Linux PCs are on sale now, $25 Model A gets a RAM bump
http://www.engadget.com/2012/02/29/raspberry-pi-credit-card-sized-linux-pcs-are-on-sale-now-25-mo/
The good news is that Raspberry Pi’s highly anticipated teeny-tiny Linux computers are on sale now, just barely making the promised February launch window (good thing it’s a leap year). The better news, is that the $25 Model A version has gotten an upgrade from the planned 128Mb of RAM to 256Mb matching the Model B, which still throws in an extra USB port and an Ethernet hookup for $10 more.
Model A is going into production “immediately”
Model B is the only one on sale right now.
Built on a Broadcom BCM2835 700MHz ARM11 processor, they’re intended as a cheap computing option that require only a keyboard and RCA or HDMI-connected display to give a full desktop experience including gaming and HD video playback .
Tomi Engdahl says:
Powerful, wallet-sized Raspberry Pi computer sells out in SECONDS
Tiny Brit wonder hardly even touched the shelves
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/02/29/raspberrypi_mania/
The first batch of 10,000 ARM-powered Raspberry Pi computers went on sale at 6am GMT today – and sold out within minutes.
According to distributor Premier Farnell, there were at least 600 orders, visits or pre-orders every SECOND, producing a 300 per cent hike in web traffic. The electronic component sales site was knocked for six by the surge in demand for the $35 GNU/Linux-powered gizmo.
The board’s other distributor, RS Components, also received a huge number of orders. Both companies are now taking pre-orders for the next batch of Raspberry Pis.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Raspberry Pi announces new partners
http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/Raspberry-Pi-announces-new-partners-1445057.html
The Raspberry Pi Foundation, creator of the Raspberry Pi ARM-based tiny computer that sells for $25, has announced that it has signed up Premier Farnell and RS Components as licensed manufacturers of the devices.
The Foundation explained that the new model would remove the limitations of its previous supply model which meant it could only do batches of ten thousand Raspberry Pis a time, and that from now on, the device would be manufactured to meet demand. The Foundation will make a small profit from each Raspberry Pi sale which will be put back into the charity to help it achieve its educational mission.
The first indication of that demand came when the two companies also had the first batch of 10,000 Raspberry Pi Model B boards available for sale at 6am GMT this morning; their web sites were almost immediately swamped by buyers for the devices. Farnell sold out their allocation in less than an hour despite patchy web site availability and started taking pre-orders
Tomi Engdahl says:
RS Components says Raspberry Pi will arrive by end of March
RS Components said it will have the first batch of Raspberry Pi microcomputers in its warehouses by the end of March.
RS Components along with Farnell were picked as distributors by the Raspberry Pi Foundation to flog its tiny cut-price computer, however both firms have been overwhelmed by demand. Since the 29 February launch, Raspberry Pi had reported the discovery of a manufacturing fault with Ethernet jacks used on the device ,resulting in RS Components now saying it expects to receive the first batch in its warehouse towards the end of March and will dispatch them on a first-come, first-served basis.
The Raspberry Pi Foundation’s plan to sell a £21 computer has garnered significant consumer and media interest. The first batch of devices sold out within minutes and the outfit has been working to reassure those who missed out on the first batch that more Raspberry Pi units are coming.
Source: The Inquirer (http://s.tt/179bl)
Tomi Engdahl says:
Raspberry Pi, activist tool
http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2012/03/raspberry-pi-activist-tool.ars
The tiny, $35, Linux-based Raspberry Pi computer has drawn a lot of attention in the last few months, and though it was originally developed to teach computer programming to young students, Internet activists have taken notice as well.
A recent BBC interview with developer Nadim Kobeissi, creator of a web-based secure communications program called Cryptocat, shows off just one potential use of the low-cost hardware and free software system. Kobeissi says he’s looking forward to the arrival of Raspberry Pi as a way to bring extra-secure communication to web chat, especially in places where conversations might be watched.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Connecting up your Raspberry Pi VIDEO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAT2k60Ko8I
Tomi Engdahl says:
ModMyPi Raspberry Pi Case Offers 5% Back To the Foundation
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/12/03/21/2258232/modmypi-raspberry-pi-case-offers-5-back-to-the-foundation
The fact the Raspberry Pi ships without a case doesn’t cause a problem when using it, but encasing it in plastic will help protect and keep the dust off the components. Geek.com has already reported on one case design from hobbyist designer Marco Alici, but now another one has appeared that actually has a release date, color options, and an extra incentive to purchase it.
ModMyPi Raspberry Pi case offers 5 percent kickback to Foundation
http://www.geek.com/articles/gadgets/modmypi-raspberry-pi-case-offers-5-percent-kickback-to-foundation-20120321/
The ModMyPi case is set to be released on April 5 and will cost £7.99 ($12.70) for the black or white versions. The other colors will cost an extra £1.99 ($3.15), as will international shipping. So the price ranges from $12.70 up to $18.99 depending on your selection and location.
The good news is, ModMyPi have decided to kickback 5% of their profits from the sale of the cases directly to the Raspberry Pi Foundation.
Raspberry Pi gets a case you can download and 3D print
http://www.geek.com/articles/chips/raspberry-pi-gets-a-case-you-can-download-and-3d-print-2012035/
Marco decided he couldn’t wait for the delivery of his Raspberry Pi before designing a case for it. So he mocked up the board and designed a 3D model of a case around it using the free-to-use Blender application. The finished case can be seen above and below.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Raspberry Pi supplier coughs to ship date delay glitch
http://www.reghardware.com/2012/03/29/raspberry_pi_supplier_apologises_for_ship_date_delay_glitch/
The notification was made by Element 14, one of Raspberry Pi’s two suppliers.
Element 14 said: “All deliveries are on hold awaiting the outcome of the compliance testing currently taking place.
The reference to “compliance testing” centres on CE certification, which Element 14 and fellow distributor RS Components are insisting upon before they will ship product, Raspberry Pi claimed.
The organisation said it has received 2000 of the tiny, ARM-based boards this week. “We are working to get them CE marked as soon as is humanly possible,” it said.
It is also in talks with the UK government to discuss the rules that regulate shipment of kit like the Pi to consumers here.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Raspberry Pi makers will wait for safety approval
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2164622/raspberry-pi-sellers-wait-safety-approval
THE UNCASED MICRO PC, the Raspberry Pi will not be sold until it has passed CE testing.
“Both RS Components and element14/Premier Farnell have now informed us that they are not willing to distribute the Raspberry Pi until it has received the CE mark,” said the foundation in a blog post.
“While this differs from our view (as we’ve said before, we believe that the uncased Raspberry Pi is not a ‘finished end product’, and may be distributed on the same terms as Beagleboard and other non-CE-marked platforms), we respect their right to make that decision.”
“On the basis of preliminary measurements, we expect emissions from the uncased product to meet category A requirements comfortably without modification, and possibly to meet the more stringent category B requirements which we had originally expected would require a metalised case.” A case will not be part of the Raspberry Pi device until educational models are released, but since this early release is for enthusiasts, a case is less important.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Raspberry Pi passes tests
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2166608/raspberry-pi-passes-tests
COMPUTER IN YOUR POCKET the Raspberry Pi has passed CE compliance testing and will go ahead without any hardware modifications.
The testing for CE compliance came up late in the Raspberry Pi release process and was announced by the hardware distributors RS Components and Premier Farnell.
As well as gaining European compliance, the Raspberry Pi has also met standards in the US, Canada and Australia.
“There is still a mountain of paperwork for us to sign,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Testing’s done!
http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/978
Good news! We just received confirmation that the Raspberry Pi has passed EMC testing without requiring any hardware modifications.
There is still a mountain of paperwork for us to sign, and that then has to be looked over by RS Components and element14/Premier Farnell; but that’s a piece of cake compared to what we’ve been doing all week. Given that we’ve had the chamber for the whole week, we’ve used the time to make sure that alongside the CE requirements, the Raspberry Pi also complies with FCC regulations (USA) as well as CTick (Australia) and what we’ve been calling “that Canadian thing”.
The Raspberry Pi had to pass radiated and conducted emissions and immunity tests in a variety of configurations (a single run can take hours), and was subjected to electrostatic discharge (ESD) testing to establish its robustness to being rubbed on a cat.
Tomi Engdahl says:
700 Rasperry Pi PCs are shipping this weekend
Over 200,000 customers kept waiting
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2167604/700-rasperry-pi-pcs-shipping-weekend
ELECTRONICS DISTRIBUTOR RS Components has confirmed that a batch of 700 tiny Rasperry Pi PCs will be shipped this weekend.
Glenn Jarrett, head of electronics marketing at RS Components said, “We are delighted to have the first batch of fully compliant products in our warehouse and to be able to invite the first wave of customers who registered for a Raspberry Pi to place their orders from this initial stock. This is fantastic news for RS Components and for Corby.”
RS Components has received “around 220,000 pre-orders”.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Lesser-spotted Raspberry Pi FINALLY dished up
Cheap-as-chips ARM computer hits doormats
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/04/16/raspberry_pi/
The credit card-sized ARM-powered Raspberry Pi is finally shipping, at £30, allowing thousands of middle-aged dads to achieve their adolescent dreams of computing nirvana.
Shipping was supposed to happen last month, but problems with a couple of components, and getting the CE mark organised, delayed things slightly. The first devices arrived at the distributors at the tail of last week and all pre-ordered boards should be in the hands of customers by 20 April.
These are still Model B, which lists at $35 and features a pair of USB ports along with Ethernet connectivity. The stripped-down Model A has only one USB and no Ethernet, but should sell (wholesale) at $25 a pop.
Those are the prices listed by the UK charity that designed and sourced parts for the board, but over at retailer Element 14 we can see the actual price is £29.45 once shipping and VAT are included.
The Raspberry Pi is supposed to interest kids in computing, so lots should be sold into schools
Tomi Engdahl says:
Raspberry Pi $35 mini system starts shipping
The credit card-sized Linux system is being delivered to first 10,000 customers worldwide this week.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57414554-1/raspberry-pi-$35-mini-system-starts-shipping/
Raspberry Pi, the $35 Linux system about the size of a credit card, is fully baked and ready to eat… er, ship.
The system was designed by a British nonprofit with the idea of encouraging people everywhere, particularly young people in developing countries, to become more interested in programming.
the first batch sold out in minutes. That first crop of 10,000 units of the ARM-based system was received by distributors RS Components and Allied Electronics a few days ago, and they say shipping to customers worldwide will commence this week.
The system is smaller than most smartphones and comes with Ethernet, HDMI, and two USB ports, and an SD card slot, and it runs off a 700MHz ARM chip with 256MB of RAM.
Raspberry Pi’s Liam Fraser put together this comprehensive tour of the Pi that shows it in action performing some basic tasks like Web browsing, games, and photo editing. It might try the patience of those of us used to cruising along on our 3GHz systems
Raspberry Pi – It’s Here!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=U0QojdnF9EQ
Video says that Debian is the new recommended distro because of bugs in the Fedora.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Raspberry Pi, A Low-Cost Mini PC to Get Kids Interested in Programming
http://laughingsquid.com/raspberry-pi-a-low-cost-mini-pc-to-get-kids-interested-in-programming/
We don’t think that the Raspberry Pi is a fix to all of the world’s computing issues; we do believe that we can be a catalyst. We want to see cheap, accessible, programmable computers everywhere; we actively encourage other companies to clone what we’re doing. We want to break the paradigm where without spending hundreds of pounds on a PC, families can’t use the internet. We want owning a truly personal computer to be normal for children. We think that 2012 is going to be a very exciting year.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Adafruit announces prototyping Pi Plate kit for Raspberry Pi
http://www.edn.com/article/521613-Adafruit_announces_prototyping_Pi_Plate_kit_for_Raspberry_Pi.php?cid=Newsletter+-+EDN+Fun+Friday
Electronics DIY firm Adafruit is adding its own special twist to the coveted $25 Raspberry Pi computer, announcing its own Prototyping Pi Plate Kit, to enable tinkerers to try their hands at homemade embedded projects.
The Pi Plate can snap onto the Pi PCB to offer users all kinds of prototypes to use with their mini-linux machine, including the ability to wire up DIP chips, sensors, and more.
Adafruit said it had divided the prototyping area up so as to offer one half “breadboard” style and the other “perfboard” style.
Adafruit has also made it easy to connect up to the board with all the GPIO/I2C/SPI and power pins along the edges of the prototype area broken out to 0.1-inch strips. The firm said all of the pins were also connected to 3.5-mm screw-terminal blocks, making it simpler to semi-permanently wire in things like sensors and LEDs.
Unfortunately, Adafruit says it is still testing the plate with Raspberry Pi and will only release it once it has been thoroughly put through its paces. Pricing on the plate has also yet to be set
Announcing the Adafruit Prototyping Pi Plate Kit for Raspberry Pi
http://www.adafruit.com/blog/2012/04/26/announcing-the-adafruit-prototyping-pi-plate-kit-for-raspberry-pi/
Tomi Engdahl says:
JavaFX Runs On Raspberry Pi
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/12/05/03/1553230/javafx-runs-on-raspberry-pi
“Oracle seem to be concerned that the Raspberry Pi manages to run Java properly and they are actively working on the problem. ”
“Java and JavaFX on Raspberry Pi takes us into a whole new ball game.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
RS Components promises to ship 4,000 more Raspberry Pi PCs soon
345,000 customers are still waiting
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2173194/rs-components-promises-ship-raspberry-pi-pcs-soon
POCKET PC Raspberry Pi units will soon be landing in the hands of 4,000 more patient customers, RS Components has revealed.
The email reads, “We’ve invited the next 4,000 people in our queue into the Raspberry Pi online store to place their orders. The second batch of boards are on their way to us, and we’ll be shipping those out direct to customers as soon as they arrive in our warehouse.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Best and the Rest: ARM Mini PCs
http://www.reghardware.com/2012/05/10/product_round_up_arm_mini_computers_the_best_and_the_rest/
The Raspberry Pi – if you can get your hands on one – isn’t the only small, inexpensive ARM computer around these days. There are quite a few options with varying speeds and price points. So here we take up ARMs with a full review of the ARMini – uniquely British offering that is currently the fastest and the most costly player in this arena – and take a look at a range of alternatives for ARM enthusiasts.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Raspberry Pi gets snappy with camera add-on
http://www.reghardware.com/2012/05/21/raspberry_pi_gets_snappy_with_camera_add_on/
While the the Raspberry Pi foundation continues to struggle to meet the demand for its £16 Linux machine, it has already revealed improvements. The latest: a prototype camera add-on.
The peripheral plugs onto the CSI pins found in the middle of each Raspberry Pi board by means of a ribbon cable.
Version on show packs a 14Mp sensor
So there’s no word on pricing yet, just an array of smily prototype pics on the Raspberry Pi blog, which talks up the add-on’s potential for robotics and home automation applications.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Camera module – first pictures!
http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/1254
We may downgrade the super-duperness of the camera to something with fewer than its current 14 megapixels before release; we need to keep things affordable, and a sensor of that size will end up pricey. Before you ask (I know it’ll be the first question most of you have), we don’t have a price for the camera module yet; we’ll need to finalise exactly what hardware is in it first, but we will, of course, be ensuring that it’s very affordable.
The module is pretty small, which makes it ideal for some of the robotics and home automation applications people have been wanting to build.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Raspberry Pi Review: Bare bones computing
http://www.reghardware.com/2012/05/22/review_raspberry_pi_arm_pc/
Unbelievable bang-for-your-buck educational/hobbyist ARM-based PC.
Suggested Price: $25 (£16)
So what do you get for your money? The Rπ is a credit-card sized GNU/Linux computer with RCA video out, 3.5mm audio out, the appropriate aforementioned USB/Ethernet setup, HDMI out, and an SD card reader for OS and userfile storage.
And whilst the Rπ does need to boot from an SD card, it’s possible from the command line to switch post-boot so that the OS and filesystem run from an external USB drive
Additionally, despite no software support as yet, there’s a DSI connector for hooking it up to LCD panels, and the Model B has a [CSI MIPI connector] for adding a camera down the line. There are also GPIO pinouts (though limited to 16 mA according to spec), which could make expansion and hobbyist extras a distinct possibility; projects to tie Arduinos into an Rπ, or use Arduino shilds on an Rπ are already off the drawing board.
In terms of processor specs, the Rπ is built around a Broadcom BCM2835 32-bit system-on-chip clocked at 700MHz, a VideoCore IV GPU running at 250MHz – hence the 1080p full HD support – and 256MB of LPDDR memory shared between them.
The Rπ ships as just a circuit board, although the proposed Autumn Educational release promises a case for the same money.
The supply is from a USB cable, so you need a decent powered hub, or USB charging socket.
And yes, sorry, must stop calling it a board; it really is a PC. Indeed the Rπ Foundation could rightfully claim the title of cheapest bare-bones PC on the market.
Once you have it up and running, and plugged into your display of choice, it’s time to start running through the demos on the Demo SD card. The card we were shipped came with Debian Squeeze with an LXDE topping, featuring desktop scripted links to basic apps (AbiWord), programming environments (python games, turtle and Scratch), media box tools (XBMC), graphics demos in Qt, and games (Quake III).
Once you have it up and running, and plugged into your display of choice, it’s time to start running through the demos on the Demo SD card. The card we were shipped came with Debian Squeeze with an LXDE topping, featuring desktop scripted links to basic apps (AbiWord), programming environments (python games, turtle and Scratch), media box tools (XBMC), graphics demos in Qt, and games (Quake III).
In day-to-day use though, is it a PC replacement? Nope, probably not. The main killer is more the 256MB limit, than the clockspeed. It’s fine for word-processing, and a little spreadsheet-ing, but as a thin client, it struggled to deal with the bulk of modern web-app sites – webmail, Dropbox, Stackoverflow and the like – and was prone to hanging when switching between browser windows. This may be down to the current lack of hardware graphics acceleration – which may be addressed in due course.
The software is free, there’s an existing community, and more stuff will get ported to it over time
If Debian and LXDE aren’t your cup of tea, other flavours of Linux are available
The price will get it in the doors of schools, and it’s open source nature will ensure that there’ll be a ready supply of developer tools.
The whole point of this adventure is to make something that kids can learn how to program with. As it stands right now, the Rπ has the potential to fulfil its promise: but it’s clearly not there yet. Just having the kit out there is not enough.
Tomi Engdahl says:
VIA launches $49 Android PC
http://www.geek.com/articles/chips/via-launch-a-49-android-pc-20120522/
The Raspberry Pi has set the price bar very low for a fully functional PC, and no one has managed to get anywhere near it yet. VIA is within spitting distance though, with the announcement today of a $49 Android PC (APC) system.
Just like the Raspberry Pi, the APC ships as just a board without a case. It takes the form of a Neo-ITX motherboard that you can just plug into a TV or monitor, hook up some peripherals and start using. And it is tiny, measuring just 17 x 8.5cm.
The Raspberry Pi has set the price bar very low for a fully functional PC, and no one has managed to get anywhere near it yet. VIA is within spitting distance though, with the announcement today of a $49 Android PC (APC) system.
Just like the Raspberry Pi, the APC ships as just a board without a case. It takes the form of a Neo-ITX motherboard that you can just plug into a TV or monitor, hook up some peripherals and start using. And it is tiny, measuring just 17 x 8.5cm.
Arduino and Rasberry Pi together « Tomi Engdahl’s ePanorama blog says:
[...] and Rasberry Pi together Rasberry Pi and Arduino seems to be the most interesting small single board platforms at the moment for the [...]
Tomi Engdahl says:
First Steps with the Raspberry Pi
http://www.linuxlinks.com/article/20120603051148201/RaspberryPi-Introduction.html
The Raspberry Pi received an extraordinary amount of pre-launch coverage. It truly went viral with major news corporations such as the BBC giving extensive coverage. Not without reason, it is groundbreaking to have a small capable computer retailing at less than the price of a new console game. There have been a number of ventures that have tried to produce a cheap computer such as a laptop and a tablet but which never materialised at these price points. Nothing comes close to the Raspberry Pi in terms of affordability, which is even more important in the current economic climate. Producing a PC capable of running Linux, Quake III-quality games, and 1080p video is worthy of praise.
There are two editions of the Raspberry Pi, the Model B which we have, and the Model A which is identical except that it loses the ethernet port and one of the USB slots.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Raspberry Pi IN THE SKY: Wallet-sized PC is disaster drone brain
ARM-powered flying mercy bot to the rescue!
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/06/12/raspberry_pi_drone/
A British-led Japan-based group is building a free-software-powered flying robot for use by disaster relief organisations – and at its heart is tech darling the Raspberry Pi.
OpenRelief announced at LinuxCon in Japan last week that it aims to use free and open source software (FOSS) and inexpensive commodity hardware to help relief organisations.
Its first project will be the aforementioned flying robot, which will have an impressive range of abilities – as well as an onboard camera and image analysis, the aircraft will be able to carry weather and radiation sensors. Rather than just being a radio-controlled model, the drone will have an autopilot so it will not need line-of-sight guidance nor a skilled pilot. Its users will be able to feed it a route and it will make its own way around it and then return to base and land unaided.
OpenRelief is literally and metaphorically aiming high, but much of the work is integration. The airframe is an existing design and the various control electronics are off-the-shelf boards. Prototyping began using the Beagleboard, but OpenRelief has switched to the less powerful but also far less expensive Raspberry Pi; currently it’s running Debian 6 but the group is investigating the new Raspbian version, which adds support for the ARMv6 CPU’s hardware floating-point maths unit.
The Raspberry Pi controls the computer-vision system that uses the OpenCV library and a Sony Super HAD II camera. There’s also a Nanode-based radiation detector with a choice of sensors, plus another Nanode controlling off-the-shelf weather sensors. Both communicate with the Raspberry Pi over plain old Ethernet. Control of the aircraft is a separate system, based around an Arduino microcontroller board and the ArduPlane software from the DIYDrones community.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Raspberry Pi review
ARM device offers a Linux computer for £22
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/review/2184136/raspberry-pi-review
Product Raspberry Pi
Specifications Broadcom BCM2835 SoC processor with 700MHz ARM1176JZF-S core, 256MB RAM, Videocore 4 GPU supports resolutions up to 1920×1200, SD Card slot, 1 x 10/100 Ethernet, 2 x USB, HDMI, RCA phono, audio jack, GPIO header, microUSB power, DSI and CSI, Linux operating system images available to download from Raspberry Pi web site, 85.6x54mm
Price £22
THE RASPBERRY PI has been one of the most eagerly anticipated devices of the year. It’s a low-cost machine that allows students to get to grips with programming, and has also sparked a huge amount of interest from computer technology enthusiasts.
As such, the device is not for everyone; it is literally just a system board, delivered without a protective casing, power supply, or even any operating system included.
To get started, users also need a flash SD Card with at least 4GB capacity, a mobile phone mains charger with a microUSB plug capable of providing at least 700mA of current, a USB keyboard, a USB mouse and a display with either an HDMI or composite video input.
The Raspberry Pi is physically about the size of a credit card
But the GPU is clearly quite capable, managing to drive a monitor at 1824×984 resolution in our tests, and is said to be capable of delivering full HD 1080p video.
The Raspberry Pi Foundation makes available three SD Card boot images that users can download to get up and running with their device.
This is a “squeezed” build of Debian Linux, which comes with the Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment (LXDE), Midori web browser and a handful of developer tools.
Having downloaded this image and written it to SD Card using the Win32DiskImager tool
But once Debian has loaded all necessary drivers, it asks for a username and password, then displays the Bash shell command line prompt and leaves the user to their own devices
Typing “startx” runs LXDE, putting the user into a more familiar desktop environment
The first thing users will notice is that the Raspberry Pi is no speed demon and takes an appreciable amount of time to open LXDE, and indeed launch and run any of the included applications, such as the Midori web browser.
The focus seems to be on the Python language, with Stani’s Python Editor (SPE), the Winpdb Python debugger and others including the Geany text editor/development environment and Wxglade tool for creating graphical user interface components.
One tool called Scratch allows users to create animations and simple programs by dragging and dropping blocks of conditions and actions rather than typing out code, which could prove useful as a way of getting students to think about how to structure a program.
There is another side to the Raspberry Pi, and that is as a tool for hobbyists. A low-cost device such as this should prove a good choice for those who want to build a hardware project.
As mentioned earlier, the Raspberry Pi has some general-purpose I/O exposed on a DIL header in the top left of the board. These consist of eight general-purpose programmable inputs or outputs, serial input and output lines, plus serial peripheral interface (SPI) and Inter-Integrated Circuit (I2C) interfaces.
In Short
The Raspberry Pi is a miniature marvel that shows just how small and cheap you can make a working computer. However, the device could benefit from having more memory at the risk of bumping the price up a bit.
Overall, our impression is that the Raspberry Pi has great potential, but that it has a few rough edges and definitely needs improvements to its developer tools and support if it is to succeed as an educational tool. On the other hand, if you are happy with a bare bones computer to experiment with, the Raspberry Pi is ideal – if you can get hold of one.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Debian ‘Wheezy’ public beta is out for Raspberry Pi
Firmware update and performance boosts
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2185388/debian-wheezy-public-beta-raspberry-pi
THE RASPBERRY PI developers have released a reference image of Debian “Wheezy” for the tiny computer in your pocket device.
The release is based on Debian “Squeeze” and you can try it out now.
“Alex has produced a new reference image based on the upcoming Debian “wheezy” release,” writes Eben Upton, the Raspberry Pi creator, on the foundation’s blog.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The circuit board: sell $ 35 Raspberry Pi computer skills can look like a sailor, if the English Greg Holloway the project’s completion.
The project is called FishPi, and the aim is to develop an Autonomous Marine Surface Vehicle, and have it cross the Atlantic Ocean.
FishPi project at http://fishpi.org/ aims to make the Raspberry Pi’s command of the boat, and, acting independently and in excess of the Atlantic Ocean.
There’s a long way to go yet before the Raspberry Pi gets its sea legs, but that’s not to say progress has not been made.
The Raspberry Pi is going into a waterproof container, an upside down lunch box, along with all the other important components. The important bits will run on the i²c bus, a GPS, a servo controller board (which will drive the rudder and the Electronic Speed Controller (ESC) for the motor), and a compass.
There is hope to attach the Raspberry Pi’s camera if it becomes available at the time.
Sources:
http://www.itviikko.fi/uutiset/2012/06/27/35-taalan-tietokone-aiotaan-tyontaa-valtamerelle/201232331/7?rss=8
http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/1479
http://fishpi.org/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Raspberry Pi creator gets IT innovator gong
Eben Upton applauded for good work at young age
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2200147/raspberry-pi-creator-gets-it-innovator-gong
THE MAN BEHIND the Raspberry Pi has been awarded a gong by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology because he is under 35 and rather good at what he does.
What he has done is give the world the sub-£25 Rasberry Pi PC, a small piece of hardware that has impressed all who see it.
Upton is 34 years old, and has ignited a nascent market according to MIT, that of young people and computers.
“Eben Upton thought a new generation of youngsters might never develop valuable hardware and software hacking skills unless they had access to cheap, hobbyist-friendly computers. So he set out to build one himself. The resulting tiny box, which sells for just $25, has been a big hit,”
“It was intended for kids, but hackers of all ages wanted it, and so did budding computer scientists in poor countries. Almost the instant the Raspberry Pi went on sale, orders crashed the websites of its two vendors, RS Components and Premier Farnell. The companies reported that they were taking in orders fast enough to tear through the entire initial stock of 10,000 computers in minutes.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Makey Awards 2012 Nominee 07, Raspberry Pi, Most Hackable Gadget
http://blog.makezine.com/2012/08/22/makey-awards-2012-nominee-07-raspberry-pi-most-hackable-gadget/
Born in the University of Cambridge’s Computer Laboratory, Raspberry Pi has taken the tech world by storm. Since its release earlier this year, this $35 credit card-sized Linux computer has been in short supply, leaving makers waiting for weeks (sometimes even months) for their orders to be fulfilled. Besides the price, what is it about the Raspberry Pi that tests the patience of a board-hungry group of hackers?
As the founder of Linux, Linus Torvalds, said in an interview with BBC News, Raspberry Pi makes it possible to “afford failure.”
Not only that, but makers, tinkerers, and hackers have also latched onto the platform because of its price and capabilities. And with the enormous Linux community available for support, the pains of working with a new platform have been minimal.
Tomi Engdahl says:
‘Nutjob’ serves half-baked Raspberry PI scam
Budget-priced board too expensive for ‘BA applied math student and journo’
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/09/04/raspberry_pi_nutjob/
Some people will go to any lengths to get a Raspberry PI, except pay the $35 price tag.
It’s policy for the Foundation, a non-profit, not to dish out free devices.